Season 7, Post 19: Robotic dogs and more
Earlier this month your author was privileged to participate in a panel discussing the robotics megatrend. He also got to meet a robotic dog named Dave (pictured), who arguably stole the show. The event was the Edison Growth Conference, attended by around 100 investors and stakeholders. Other panel sessions involved the climate opportunity and how AI will change our lives.
We have made the case for robots since 2012 and discussed in detail earlier this year the potential for humanoid robots. Today’s humanoids are the most expensive and least capable that they will ever be. Further, as the industry scales, the marginal cost of adding one additional robot to the workforce should move close to zero. Additional perspectives on the topic were shared by GXO Logistics and BOW Limited. The former is a leader in outsourced logistics and deploys (humanoid) robots in some of the warehouses it manages. We concur with the observation made by GXO that “there is no silver bullet” regarding automation – robots will be just part of the solution. BOW not only showcased the robotic dog but highlighted the importance of efficient software to enable better performing robotic hardware.
The panellists on the climate change panel were unsurprisingly in clear agreement that spending needs to increase if the world is to hit the 2030 climate goals set out by the United Nations. One speaker described decarbonisation as “the industrial revolution of our time.” Approaches will likely embrace a range of diversified alternative energy sources comprising wind, solar, hydro and geothermal (we discussed the latter in a detailed note recently). While making electricity greener is the ‘easy’ part of the decarbonisation challenge, novel solutions – not to mention further investment – will almost certainly be needed when the steel, cement, agriculture and food industries start to decarbonise. We are still in a very early innings.
There was no shortage of enthusiasm on the topic of AI, or as one panellist put it, “we’re merely at the start of a massive investment cycle.” Consider that the amount currently spent by the hyperscalers on AI investment comprises less than 1% of US GDP. At peak, investment into US railroads comprised over three times this figure. Eventually, AI will become another general purpose technology (a point we have made too), fully integrated into our daily lives. Who wins? Current consensus seems to favour the major infrastructure players although the rate of change in software gains continues to surprise to the upside. The bigger challenge, of course, remains cultural. Persuading corporates to adopt the technology and then see it deliver tangible gains will be crucial.
27 May 2025
The above does not constitute investment advice and is the sole opinion of the author at the time of publication. Heptagon Capital is an investor in GXO Logistics. The author of this piece has no personal direct investment the business. Past performance is no guide to future performance and the value of investments and income from them can fall as well as rise.
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Alex Gunz, Fund Manager
Photos by the author
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